Google’s venture arm recruits a Harvard/Tesaro vet to help plant the seeds for a second oncology R&D revolution

Sridhar Ramaswamy. GV

October 28, 2019 08:59 AM EDTUpdated 09:10 AM

Google’s venture arm recruits a Harvard/Tesaro vet to help plant the seeds for a second oncology R&D revolution

John Carroll

Editor & Founder

Oncology R&D has been exploding over the past 5 years, and now Google’s venture arm is preparing to place a few explosives to help with the revolution — relying on a new recruit in the Cambridge/Boston branch to assist in fostering the movement.

Eight months after the high-profile scientist and Agios founder David Schenkein started his third career act in biotech, teaming up with Krishna Yeshwant as a general partner in charge of the life sciences portfolio at GV, they’re bringing on board their second entrepreneur-in-residence to help strategize their approach to investing in cancer research. And he has some deep experience in the oncology field.

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M&A: a critical driver for sustainable top-line growth in healthcare

Andrew Callaway

Global Head, Healthcare Investment Banking, RBC Capital Markets

2021 saw a record $600B in healthcare M&A activity. In 2022, there is an anticipated slowdown in activity, however, M&A prospects remain strong in the medium to long-term. What are future growth drivers for the healthcare sector? Where might we see innovations that drive M&A? RBC’s Andrew Callaway, Global Head, Healthcare Investment Banking discusses with Vito Sperduto, Global Co-Head, M&A.

Abortion-rights protesters regroup and protest following Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

June 24, 2022 12:28 PM EDTUpdated 01:33 PM

Law

Following SCOTUS decision to overturn abortion protections, AG Garland says states can't ban the abortion pill

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Following the Supreme Court’s historic decision on Friday to overturn Americans’ constitutional right to an abortion after almost 50 years, Attorney General Merrick Garland sought to somewhat reassure women that states will not be able to ban the prescription drug sometimes used for abortions.

Following the decision, the New England Journal of Medicine also published an editorial strongly condemning the reversal, saying it “serves American families poorly, putting their health, safety, finances, and futures at risk.”

AstraZeneca's new Evusheld direct to consumer campaign aims to reach more immunocompromised patients.

June 23, 2022 11:53 AM EDT

Pharma

Marketing

AstraZeneca debuts first consumer campaign for its Covid-19 prophylactic Evusheld — and a first for EUA drugs

Beth Snyder Bulik

Senior Editor

AstraZeneca’s first consumer ad for Evusheld is also a first for drugs that have been granted emergency use authorizations during the pandemic.

The first DTC ad for a medicine under emergency approval, the Evusheld campaign launching this week aims to raise awareness among immunocompromised patients — and spur more use.

Evusheld nabbed emergency authorization in December, however, despite millions of immunocompromised people looking for a solution and now more widespread availability of the drug.

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ENDPOINTS CAREERS

Director of Quality Assurance

ImmunityBio

Dunkirk, NY, USA

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Joe Papa (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

June 24, 2022 08:50 AM EDTUpdated 01:56 PM

People

Pharma

Joe Papa resigns as chair of Bausch Health as billionaire John Paulson takes over

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Joe Papa, chair of Bausch Health, officially resigned on Thursday and the board appointed billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson as the new chair, effective immediately.

The specialty pharma company sought to make clear that Papa’s abrupt departure “was not due to any dispute or disagreement with the Company, its management or the Board on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.”

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Yong Dai, Frontera Therapeutics CEO

June 24, 2022 08:09 AM EDTUpdated 09:29 AM

Scoop: Little-known OrbiMed-backed biotech closes $160M round to start gene therapy trial

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Frontera Therapeutics, a China and US biotech, has closed a $160 million Series B and received regulatory clearance to test its first gene therapy stateside, Endpoints News has learned.

Led by the largest shareholder, OrbiMed, the biotech has secured $195 million total since its September 2019 founding, according to an email reviewed by Endpoints. The lead AAV gene therapy program is for an undisclosed rare eye disease, according to the source.

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Spanish Prime Minister Pédro Sanchez and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

June 23, 2022 01:03 PM EDTUpdated 03:38 PM

Financing

Manufacturing

EU to launch vaccine development and manufacturing partnership with Latin American and Caribbean countries

Tyler Patchen

News Reporter

While European companies, including BioNTech, are focused on increasing vaccine access to African countries by setting up vaccine manufacturing facilities, the European Union is looking westward to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Speaking at a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pédro Sanchez, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU is launching a new initiative for vaccines and medicines manufacturing in Latin America, to get drugs to Latin America and the Caribbean faster.

June 23, 2022 12:00 PM EDT

FDA+

Congress lays out its demands for FDA in 2023 — on everything from machine learning to immunotherapies

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

As the US House Appropriations committee marks up a bill today to provide the FDA with a 10% budget boost in FY 2023, the committee also offered up a long wish list of topics that it wants the FDA to address.

The list ranges from urging CDER to better use artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance its review process for supplements or repurposed drug candidates “by leveraging automated data collection, integration, and advanced statistical methods,” to encourage the FDA to publish guidance for cell therapy developers, to increasing staff in key areas.

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Product Sales Manager

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DEM BioPharma CEO David Donabedian (L) and executive chair Jan Skvarka

June 23, 2022 06:14 AM EDTUpdated 07:18 AM

Financing

Startups

Longwood sets another 'don't eat me' biotech into gear with help of former Trillium CEO Jan Skvarka

Kyle LaHucik

Associate Editor

Jonathan Weissman and team are out with a cancer-fighting biotech riding the appetite for those so-called “don’t eat me” and “eat me” signals.

The scientific co-founder — alongside fellow Whitehead Institute colleague Kipp Weiskopf and Stanford biologist Michael Bassik — has launched DEM BioPharma with incubator Longwood Fund and a crop of other investors.

In all, the nascent, 10-employee biotech has $70 million to bankroll hematology- and solid tumor-based programs, including a lead asset that could enter human trials in two to three years, CEO David Donabedian told Endpoints News.

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June 24, 2022 01:57 PM EDTUpdated 02:14 PM

Pharma

Despite a slow start to the year for deals, PwC predicts a flurry of activity coming up

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

Despite whispers of a busy year for M&A, deal activity in the pharma space is actually down 30% on a semi-annualized basis, according to PwC’s latest report on deal activity. But don’t rule out larger deals in the second half of the year, the consultants said.

PwC pharmaceutical and life sciences consulting solutions leader Glenn Hunzinger expects to see Big Pharma companies picking up earlier stage companies to try and fill pipeline gaps ahead of a slew of big patent cliffs. Though a bear market continues to maul the biotech sector, Hunzinger said recent deals indicate that pharma companies are still paying above current trading prices.